Charlie Huggins, Father of WVU Head Coach Bob Huggins, Dies at 87

Legendary Ohio high school boy’s basketball coach Charlie Huggins died early Tuesday, he was 87. Huggins, a native of Morgantown, W. Va. is the father of long-time WVU men’s basketball coach Bob Huggins.

Huggins was born in Morgantown in 1933, playing high school basketball at Morgantown High before beginning his college career at WVU in 1951. After playing in a handful of games for the Mountaineers in 1952, Huggins put his college career on hold for a few years. He eventually finished his final two seasons at Alderson-Broaddus, helping the team reach the NAIA national tournament in 1956. Huggins graduated from Alderson-Broaddus and eventually received a master’s degree from WVU in 1962.

As a high school coach in Ohio, Huggins coached at Stone Creek, Strasburg, Conotton Valley, Indian Valley South and Hiland. Over his 20-year career, Huggins amassed a 388-74 record with three state championships in 1967, 1972 and 1976. He coached his three sons, Bob, Harry and Larry, in the 1970s while at Indian Valley South. Huggins ran the highly-regarded Eastern Ohio Basketball Camp in Sherrodsville, Oh. from 1969 until 2010.

Huggins was inducted into the Alderson-Broaddus Hall of Fame in 1994, the Morgantown High Hall of Fame in 2008 and the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016.

Huggins is preceded in death by his wife, Norma, and is survived by seven adult children; Bob, Linda, Harry, Deborah, Larry, Judy and Karen.